Waldo R. Tobler
Encyclopedia
Waldo Tobler is an American
-Swiss
geographer
and cartographer. Tobler's idea that "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related to each other" is referred to as the "first law of geography
." Tobler is a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Department of Geography.
in geography
from the University of Washington
at Seattle. At Washington, he participated in geography's William Garrison
-led quantitative revolution of the late 1950s. After graduating, Tobler spent several years at the University of Michigan
. Until his retirement he held the positions of Professor of Geography and Professor of Statistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The University of Zurich
, Switzerland, awarded him an honorary doctorate
in 1988.
s and a senior scientist
in the National Science Foundation
-sponsored National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis. He has used computers in geographic research since the 1960s, with emphasis on mathematical modeling and graphic interpretations. Well known for his publications, he formulated the "first law of geography
" in 1970 while producing a computer movie, and is the inventor of novel and unusual map projection
s, among which was the first derivation of the partial differential equations for area cartograms. He also invented a method for smooth two-dimensional mass-preserving areal data redistribution. In 1989, the American Geographical Society
awarded Tobler with the Osborn Maitland Miller Medal
.
Tobler has been involved recently in building a global, latitude
-longitude
oriented, demographic information base with resolution two orders of magnitude better than was previously available. He also had been examining the development of smooth finite element and categorical pycnophylactic geographic information reallocation models. In July 1999 he presented a keynote
speech, "The World is Shriveling as it Shrinks," at the ESRI
International User Conference, and was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award in GIS
by ESRI
. Taylor and Francis
of London recently published a map projection
book, co-authored with Q. Yang of China
and the late John P. Snyder
. Current interests relate to ideas in computational geography
including the analysis of geographical vector fields and the development of migration and of global trade
models.
Tobler has also been concerned with the representing flow (due to its involvement with movement as a mechanism of geographic change). In 2003, Tobler released a freeware
, Microsoft Windows
-based version of his flow representation software Flow Mapper. In 2005, an ESRI
ArcGIS version of the software, inspired by Tobler, was developed by John Alan Glennon
and Michael Frank Goodchild
at UCSB. Both versions are available from the Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (web)
Tobler served on the National Research Council
the Board on Earth Sciences. He has been on the editorial board of several journals, including The American Cartographer, Journal of Regional Science
, Geographical Analysis, and the International Journal of Geographical Information Systems. He was a charter member of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, a council member of the Regional Science Association, member and chairman of the Mathematical Social Science Board, and served as the United States delegate to the International Geographical Union
Commission on Geographical Data Processing and Sensing. Until his retirement, he was a member of the Royal Geographical Society
of Great Britain.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
and cartographer. Tobler's idea that "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related to each other" is referred to as the "first law of geography
First law of geography
The first law of geography according to Waldo Tobler is "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."This observation is embedded in the gravity model of trip distribution...
." Tobler is a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
Department of Geography.
Academic background
In 1961, Tobler received his Ph.D.Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
from the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
at Seattle. At Washington, he participated in geography's William Garrison
William Garrison (geographer)
William Louis Garrison is an American geographer and transportation analyst, currently a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. While at the University of Washington in the 1950s, Garrison led the "quantitative revolution" in geography, which applied computers and statistics...
-led quantitative revolution of the late 1950s. After graduating, Tobler spent several years at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. Until his retirement he held the positions of Professor of Geography and Professor of Statistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The University of Zurich
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....
, Switzerland, awarded him an honorary doctorate
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
in 1988.
Research
Tobler was one of the principal investigatorPrincipal investigator
A principal investigator is the lead scientist or engineer for a particular well-defined science project, such as a laboratory study or clinical trial....
s and a senior scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
in the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
-sponsored National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis. He has used computers in geographic research since the 1960s, with emphasis on mathematical modeling and graphic interpretations. Well known for his publications, he formulated the "first law of geography
First law of geography
The first law of geography according to Waldo Tobler is "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."This observation is embedded in the gravity model of trip distribution...
" in 1970 while producing a computer movie, and is the inventor of novel and unusual map projection
Map projection
A map projection is any method of representing the surface of a sphere or other three-dimensional body on a plane. Map projections are necessary for creating maps. All map projections distort the surface in some fashion...
s, among which was the first derivation of the partial differential equations for area cartograms. He also invented a method for smooth two-dimensional mass-preserving areal data redistribution. In 1989, the American Geographical Society
American Geographical Society
The American Geographical Society is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the world...
awarded Tobler with the Osborn Maitland Miller Medal
Osborn Maitland Miller Medal
The Osborn Maitland Miller Cartographic Medal was established in 1968 by the American Geographical Society Council. The Osborn Maitland Miller Cartographic Medal honors "outstanding contributions in the field of cartography or geodesy".-History:...
.
Tobler has been involved recently in building a global, latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
-longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
oriented, demographic information base with resolution two orders of magnitude better than was previously available. He also had been examining the development of smooth finite element and categorical pycnophylactic geographic information reallocation models. In July 1999 he presented a keynote
Keynote
A keynote in literature, music, or public speaking establishes the principal underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address...
speech, "The World is Shriveling as it Shrinks," at the ESRI
ESRI
Esri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....
International User Conference, and was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award in GIS
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
by ESRI
ESRI
Esri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....
. Taylor and Francis
Taylor and Francis
Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom which publishes books and academic journals. It is a division of Informa plc, a United Kingdom-based publisher and conference company.- Overview :...
of London recently published a map projection
Map projection
A map projection is any method of representing the surface of a sphere or other three-dimensional body on a plane. Map projections are necessary for creating maps. All map projections distort the surface in some fashion...
book, co-authored with Q. Yang of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and the late John P. Snyder
John P. Snyder
John Parr Snyder was an American cartographer most known for his work on map projections for the United States Geological Survey . Educated at Purdue and MIT as a chemical engineer, he had a lifetime interest in map projections as a hobby, but found the calculations tedious without the benefit of...
. Current interests relate to ideas in computational geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
including the analysis of geographical vector fields and the development of migration and of global trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
models.
Tobler has also been concerned with the representing flow (due to its involvement with movement as a mechanism of geographic change). In 2003, Tobler released a freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
, Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
-based version of his flow representation software Flow Mapper. In 2005, an ESRI
ESRI
Esri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....
ArcGIS version of the software, inspired by Tobler, was developed by John Alan Glennon
John Alan Glennon
John Alan Glennon is an American geographer and explorer. His work has been mapping and describing caves and geysers.-Caves:...
and Michael Frank Goodchild
Michael Frank Goodchild
Michael Frank Goodchild is a British-American geographer. He is currently a professor of geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara...
at UCSB. Both versions are available from the Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (web)
Honors
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States;
- Honorary Fellow, American Geographical SocietyAmerican Geographical SocietyThe American Geographical Society is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the world...
; - Osborn Maitland Miller MedalOsborn Maitland Miller MedalThe Osborn Maitland Miller Cartographic Medal was established in 1968 by the American Geographical Society Council. The Osborn Maitland Miller Cartographic Medal honors "outstanding contributions in the field of cartography or geodesy".-History:...
, American Geographical Society 1989; - Meritorious Contributor Medallion, Association of American Geographers, 1971;
- Andrew McNally Award, 1986;
- ESRI Lifetime Achievement Award, 1999.
- AAG Microcomputer Specialty Award, 1993.
- Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma XiSigma XiSigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...
, Phi Kappa PhiPhi Kappa PhiThe Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is an honor society established 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study and to promote the "unity and democracy of education"...
Tobler served on the National Research Council
United States National Research Council
The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...
the Board on Earth Sciences. He has been on the editorial board of several journals, including The American Cartographer, Journal of Regional Science
Journal of Regional Science
The Journal of Regional Science was the first journal in the field of Regional science. Contributors hold positions in a variety of academic disciplines: economics, geography, agricultural economics, rural sociology, urban and regional planning, and civil engineering...
, Geographical Analysis, and the International Journal of Geographical Information Systems. He was a charter member of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, a council member of the Regional Science Association, member and chairman of the Mathematical Social Science Board, and served as the United States delegate to the International Geographical Union
International Geographical Union
The International Geographical Union is an international geographical society. The first International Geographical Congress was held in Antwerp in 1871. Subsequent meetings led to the establishment of the permanent organization in Brussels, Belgium, in 1922. The Union has 34 Commissions and four...
Commission on Geographical Data Processing and Sensing. Until his retirement, he was a member of the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
of Great Britain.